for more information, on how you can help those affected by the shooting, go to cnn.com/impact.

hello, everyone, i'm don lemon reporting live from newtown, connecticut, two days after a gunman went on a rampage at an elementary school.

throughout the day we'll bring you details on the victims and on the investigation. and there's other big stories that are breaking today as well our debra ferick will help us get through that back in atlanta. we'll see you in just a moment. but first a mass shooting thats has cut short the lives of 26 people, 20 of them children. a crime that has left this community and the entire nation in a state of shock. in newtown, and surrounding towns, makeshift memorials are being set up and vigils are being held for the victims. it is an overwhelming outpouring of grief, sadness and support for the families who have lost loved ones in friday's massacre. there was this emotional gathering about 30 miles away from newtown in stratford. ♪ ♪

♪ 150 people attended a candlelight vigil in newtown last night. many of them were sobbing as the names of the victims were read out loud. president barack obama will try to comfort the families, he's scheduled to arrive in newtown in a couple of hours. he'll meet with families and first responders and then tonight he'll speak at an interfaith vigil. we'll bring you the service live to you on cnn in its entirety. 7:00 p.m. on cnn. now to the latest on the investigation, cnn's alison kosik joins us with new information from police. allison? >> i am standing, don in the neighborhood where the gunman, adam lanza, lived with his mother, nancy lanza, who he police say killed before he went on the massacre at the school. now we're not sure yet if this area has been closed down, as a crime scene. we certainly have not seen any activity here since yesterday afternoon. you know the focus really seems

to be on the school at this point. we're learning new details, even from the governor of connecticut. dan malloy. he confirmed what our sources had been telling us, that the gunman literally blasted, he shot his way inside the school. despite the fact that the school had security in place. that you had to be buzzed in as of 9:30 to get into this school. because the doors were locked. including security cameras inside the school as well. but once again, we're learning that he literally shot his way into the school. from state police, we're also learning that they discovered four weapons at the school, they were found at the school. three in the classroom, another one was found at the crime scene. and an additional three weapons are sources say, were found in the home where adam shared with his mother, nancy. as for other details. about the victims, this becomes very heartbreaking when you hear the details come out. we're learning that all of the victims died from multiple

gunshot wounds. some of these little kids, six and seven years old, were shot anywhere from three to 11 times. we're also learning that the gunman shot inside the school, inside a section of the school. just two classrooms. and the hallway. and from this news conference that we listened to, a little while ago, don, we also learned that the question was, will these kids return, will the children return to this school now that what's happened there. and the way that question was answered was, it's too early to say whether or not that would happen. but it looks like possibly that kids will be transported to another school in the area. and that they're hoping, they're really hoping that they keep these kids together. and you can only understand why. you want to keep these kids together who have been through such a traumatic, horrible experience. don? >> don't quote me on that. i think i had a guest on earlier, allison. i don't know if i have the right

school district. i think she said they're going to be transferred to monroe school district. that appears to be in the works. i also understand that you talked to a man whose children used to go to sandy hook elementary school and he is trying to mobilize his neighbors to take action to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening to anyone, not just kids. >> his name is lee schull. talking to me earlier, how do you really, you know, make sense of this? how do you move forward after this. he says you know, some people grieve. and he said what he wants to do is take action. so what he's tried to do today get as many people together, in fact he's in his meeting right now. he got a meeting together with people who lived in newtown. to try to figure out what to do. his ultimate goal is to try to make change happen to try to figure out what happened here. why it happened and to try to make change. whether it's gun laws or trying to figure out how to change the

moral fabric of this country. he has certainly gotten people together today, and listen to why he's doing this. >> we're trying to get the word out to the country, we thought this was a safe community but in any community, whether it's a proliferation of guns and people with mental health issues, possibly, this can happen anywhere. we need to start here and take this event and learn from it and we need it to grow across the country. >> lee shull lives in the neighborhood where the gunman lived. he said he's feeling it even in his home. even though he's never met the gunman before. he said his daughter, who went to the school, was at the school in that classroom where all of those children were gunned down. he said three other girls who share a dance studio with one of his daughters, they have been killed. you see, you see how this community is so connected and why someone like lee schull wants to come out and do something to feel like he's

trying to help the process along. as this community tries to heal from something that feels like it's going to be impossible to heal from. don? >> yeah. a lot of people have said to me, some people who were at the school. others who just know people say at this point they feel helpless. and so you know, he wants to do something to help out so he doesn't feel helpless. i think it's a normal, natural feeling in this situation. thank you, allison. we'll get back to you later on throughout the hour. and for many people, especially the families of the victims, you know the big question is why. why did a gunman allegedly kill his mother, and then go to a school and kill innocent children and adults? i want to bring in john navorro, a former filer for the fbi, joe, we don't have any letters left behind. we don't know a motive. as a profiler, i wonder where you begin when someone, i mean quite honestly, may have taken many of the answers to his grave.

>> that's the unfortunate thing. is we may not have all the answers. one of the things that we've lenard over the years is these individuals don't act just on impulse. this is usually something that's been going on for a while. there is some planning. there's the acquisition of the weapons. there's oftentimes a lot of wound collecting where they focus on social slights. things that have been done to them. they nurture these things and then they use that to, to sort of potentiate them, so when they act out, they act out violently. >> a lot of these individuals do give off clues, they do leave behind in social media. some indicators. oftentimes people we talk to say boy, there was something quirky, odd, somebody should have been looking at this individual. but no one lives with a camera

behind them all the time. so it's often very difficult to detect. >> but joe, you know, i know a lot of quirky and odd people. some people may say that i am quirky and odd. there is -- there's a difference between quirky and odd and going into a schoolhouse and you know gunning people down, especially children. it's always, it seems to always be young men in their 20s. what's, what's up with that? >> well there's a lot of theories that say this is a testosterone issue. we don't have girls going out and doing mass, mass killings. that testosterone fosters this. but obviously not everybody becomes a killer. >> because testosterone flows in

their veins. these are people that are not professionals. think if professionals looked at these individuals, they would say there's actually something here this individual is harboring a lot of grief or they a are. >> thinking about violence to correct a situation. >> hey, joe, can i jump in and ask you this. we always say they're harboring grief. most people who harbor grief. i've lost a number of people -- people harbor grief, you don't tell people about it. so no one knows, you sort of keep it on the inside. how can you profile that? >> well, and that's the problem. you know, the secret service looked at it. at this in 2004. and found that there is no tem pla plate. there are some people that do collect these wounds, they do

nurture this grief. that they do nurture these social slights. >> they build on them and use them. >> most of us don't sit around and debrief our children. and that's why, you know, ten years on, since columbine high school, there's really no template for being able to dissect this. other than we have to observe. and then when we sense that there's issues. we have to try to get children some help. >> you bring up a very good point. i think that's maybe of the solutions there. when you say most of us don't sit around and debrief our children. maybe we should every day. after school, how was your day, what did you do, how are you feeling. and in the morning, same thing. that may be part of the solution. thank you, joe navorro, we appreciate it. >> there's some developing news coming out of washington to tell you about. has house speaker john boehner come up with a proposal?

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and it appears that president obama has tapped massachusetts senator, john kerry, to be his next secretary of state. a source says the president may make the announcement later this week. kerry narrowly lost the presidency in 2004, to president george w. bush. he is chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and he's also a decorated veteran of

the vietnam war. well in california, a frightening incident for shoppers at a mall parking lot. newport beach. [ gunshots ] >> that is what you're hearing, a man in the parking lot fired 50 shots in the air. stores filled with holiday shoppers quickly locked their doors, no one was hit but one person suffered minor injuries trying to get out of the area. the suspect is in custody. police gave no reason for the shootsing. and let's go back to don lemon live in newtown, connecticut. one thing i was listening to your interview with the profiler. what's so incredible about the alleged shooter. he's like a ghost. after columbine, we had a huge sort of bio on who these two kids were. after the movie shooting, the one that you covered so extensively. we knew a sense of who that person was. but in this particular case, this alleged shooter, adam lanza, he's like a ghost.

nobody knows anything about him. >> nothing about him. some things you may not know as you heard the profiler say. they don't have information on people who harbor grief and resentment because they don't talk about it that much. deb, before i move on. i want to thank you for what you said coming out of those two ladies who were here. because i'm not a parent. i'm an uncle and a great uncle, that's not the same as being a parent. and this must be really tough for parents around the country, especially with school-aged children right now. >> it's so difficult. because there's something about a child, they are just -- you know, when a child turns two it effectively doubles their lifespan on the earth. there's so much learning and there's so much growing that goes on each and every year. that it's just, you can't even imagine it. i once remember hearing something that was so powerful. that an oak tree and a rose both live the same amount, the

lifetime that they are supposed to live and that's the only way that i can look at it. which is you know, the oak tree, which may be 94 years old and a child that's six -- it's the lifetime that's set for them. i suppose. >> well deb, thank you for that we appreciate it and our thoughts and prayers are with not only the people here, but all the moms and dads around the country who are horrified by this. deb, stick around, we'll get back to you in atlanta. the shootings in sandy hook thrust the small town of newtown into the spotlight. we'll look at the town next. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are you them? i'm me. but those rates are for... them. so them are here. yes! you want to run through it again? no, i'm good. you got it?

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newtown is a close-knit community. so the grief of this school shooting is affecting everyone.

as cnn's law law shows us. >> it's so sad how quickly all of that can be taken away from you in a heartbeat. >> grief has settled in for the parents. lear than do nothing, laura can lay flowers and be grateful that her own children don't seem to understand. a luxury of the very young that most don't have. a small community they all seem to know a victim. some, directly. >> we feel something unusual. they didn't respond on the phone calls. or messages. two words. >> trying to cope and connect, signs are everywhere in the town center. this one marked each lost victim. counting up to 27.

including the shooter's mother. another reminded it wasn't just children who were lost. mandy ives is thinking of the principal, her 9-year-old son was a student at the school. >> we moved here in the middle of the school year. she was so kind to my son. >> david keen's 5-year-old daughter alexis, went to preschool with the children of sandy hook elementary. >> i'm afraid to even look it and recognize and see the names of my little ones' playmates. keen sent his daughter to a different elementary school. a stroke of fate on a day when parents look for answers where there are none. >> just heartwrenching right now. it's not easy to swallow what's going on in my back yard. >> keung law, cnn, newtown, connecticut. yesterday, i took a walk through this town and this town of 27,000 people, all of them are still trying to process the horror of what happened just down the road.

that's the road that leads up to the school where this happened. it's been blocked off. you can see the sign here right across the street on the porch it said god bless sandy hook. that just about says it all. right here in the middle of the square, 26 candles. for all of the victims in the tragedy right here at the times square. and up the street, a church where the victims are being memorialized. so this is one of the intimate little squares here in sandy hook. you can see the little quaint stores, beautiful little stores and then come this way. you can see just the media, and people have taken this square over. when i talk to people here, they say, there's never this many people, there are never this many people who come to this town on a saturday and sunday to see how intimate and how beautiful this little town is, look. a creek that runs right through it. the people of this small town probably never dreep dreamed th

their town would be the focus of such pang and sorrow. this is the newtown united methodist church. this where a lot of media camp out. they give preschool classes, ages two to six. there's the church behind me. it's been opened now for 24 hours. it will be open for 24 fours for as long as they need it some of the members of the church died and anyone who wants to come by and pay their respects to the people who died. anyone who needs help from this church, they can come here and get it. for more information on how you can help those affected by the shooting, you can go to cnn.com/impact. that's a live makeshift member yat, a vigil for the people who lost their lives. this one is not far from where i am. you see the police car right there on the hill. that's the school. that's the road that leads to the school here. and there are 26 candles for every person who died inside of that school. you're looking at a square it

newtown, connecticut, live pictures right now. trying to make sense of a massacre, we're going to look at the quiet, affluent neighborhood of sandy look and talk with people who knew the young man who is accused of doing all this. [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart ♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. [ male announcer ] the way it moves. the way it cleans. everything about the oral-b power brush is simply revolutionary. oral-b power brushes oscillate, rotate

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